


All Choked Up

by sleepy_sendhelp



Series: The Sixth Love Language [12]
Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/F, Fluff, aline munches harder than pacman, helen is a disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29719659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepy_sendhelp/pseuds/sleepy_sendhelp
Summary: Helen should have known the dangers of proposing to Aline with a red velvet cupcake.
Relationships: Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow
Series: The Sixth Love Language [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907059
Kudos: 8





	All Choked Up

**Author's Note:**

> just finished exams and I figured now’s a good a time as any to write again sdhjbfjhsdb also there’s a cupcake in this story so that’ll serve as my virtual birthday (cup)cake I suppose.

“Helen if you don’t move away from me, I swear to all the angels I’m going to ruin this on purpose.” Julian said through gritted teeth. Sweat was trickling down his temples and his oldest sister crowding him was making him feel more nervous than he should be.

“Don’t you dare.” Helen threatened, moving away from Julian as quickly as she could manage.

The cupcake was looking delicious and slightly bigger than a normal cupcake should be, but considering it’s true purpose, it’s the perfect size and hopefully the icing on top of a perfectly planned date.

Tense silence prevailed for a few minutes, Julian painstakingly finishing off the simple and decpetive treat with no further hiccups while Helen tried to curb an oncoming stomachache.

A light cheerful note sounded through the air. Helen inhaled sharply.

“Julian.” she hissed.

“It’s in the box, stop fretting!” he dismissed in that irritated way of his, with a click of his tongue and a sharp glare like he’s forgetting who he’s talking to. “Get the door.” he said, placing the box carefully inside the waiting basket on the other end of the island.

Helen rolled her eyes and jogged towards the door.

“Babe!” Aline greeted, stepping inside without needing anymore permission. She peppered Helen’s face with kisses while Helen tried not to let the blood rushing to her face put an early end to the date they were about to have. Three years. Three years and somehow Aline’s all too familiar lips still easily manages to sweep her off her feet.

“Hello to you too.” Helen cleared her throat and bit her lip, trying not to smile too much and knowing fully well that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Here you go lovebirds, enoy your date.” Julian said, handing Helen the picnic basket with care that was a fraction less than what she — sternly — asked for. She growled at him as she took the basket protectively and watched him walk out the door without a care in the world, likely headed towards Emma’s house.

“Woah calm down girl,” Aline joked. “what’s the matter?”

“It’s precious cargo.” Helen muttered. They exchanged keys, Helen climbed on the car and waited for Aline to finish locking up.

—————————————————

“So…” Aline looked over at Helen, who was quiet and whose gaze was narrowed down to a fine point toward the road. “Any plans on telling me where we’re going?”

Helen grunted out a ‘no’. 

“Why?” No answer. Aline sighed and stared out the window. It was their first date in weeks, their busy schedules finally aligning enough for them to spend some quality time together. Aline loved her work as a fashion editor, but she loved Helen more and the fact that their only time together in what feels like forever is starting out with a closed-off Helen is a major downer.

Aline pushed away the tiny voice that told her Helen was upset with her and her busy schedule. Helen was the one who asked her out on a date, why would she be upset?

“Are you okay?” A warm hand gently patted her thigh next to the warmer basket. Aline opened her eyes to see Helen looking over at her, her demeanor less withdrawn than it was earlier.

The voice that she’d been trying hard to push out of her head vanished in an instant as Helen tilted her head to the side and hurriedly looked forward once she realized she’s kept her eyes off the road for too long. Aline felt herself melt.

“I’m okay.” Aline said, reaching out a hand and lacing her fingers through Helen’s.

“No.” Aline stepped out of the car. The lush scenery did nothing to block the oncoming memories of days long gone that made her grimace like she ate something much too sour. “We’re having a picnic here? What happened to the ban?”

The next words died in her throat when Helen approached her with a tentative look on her face. “I know,” she said. “but don’t you want to replace the embarrassing memories with good ones?”

“Oh,” Aline raised an eyebrow. “are we having a good time today?” she feigned lunging for Helen, hoping that it’ll start a round of playfighting which always ended in kisses but unfortunately for her, Helen dodged her attacks, squeaking as she went and grabbing the picnic basket that Aline forgot was in her hands.

“Right, the food. Sorry.” Aline apologized to a scandalized looking Helen. Something was up, she knew. Helen hadn’t been this fussy since their seventh date when Aline finally taught her how to… _relax_.

They walked towards a space under one of the large trees, the light breeze pushing Aline’s hair on to her face and breaking Helen’s stupor.

“What’s going on, babe?” Aline asked once they’ve settled, taking Helen’s hands in hers and looking her deep in the eyes to let her know she was serious and won’t be taking ‘no’ for an answer.

“Nothing!” Helen hurriedly assured, her eyes wide as she tried to look as convincing as possible. “Let’s just eat, okay? I missed you.” Aline was defenseless against Helen’s charms. She was laiyng it on thick and Aline was loving it.

——————————————————-

It got to a point where Helen could barely hold her cutlery. Her hands were shaking too much.

Aline was thankfully none the wiser, stuffing her face with the egg sandwhich like her life depended on it. Her cheeks were puffing up and she was making comically ravenous sounds as she agressively chewed on her food. Helen thought she was most beautiful then, when she loved her food so much that she couldn’t even pause to drink water. Previous experiences proved that Aline could successively inhale three courses without dying, so Helen wasn’t too worried.

Aline picked up the cupcake. “Red velvet!” she cheered. Helen was snapped back to reality. Cupcake? She suddenly remembered why she couldn’t finish her food. She wasn’t breathing when Aline kissed her cheek. “You’re the best babe.” Helen chuckled nervously.

The fork was halfway through the frosting. “Wanna share?” Aline asked, her tongue darting out to lick her lips, eager for her favorite treat. Helen grabbed her wrist.

“No!” Aline looked at her, confused.

“I mean,” Helen stammered. “You can have it all, I made it for you.” Aline shrugged and bit into it.

Helen swallowed and shifted, sitting on her knees in front of Aline who was going through the cupcake faster than pacman could ever hope to do. It seemed that Helen’s speech is about to turn into a rap freestyle instead.

“Aline,” she started nervously. “I wanted to change the memories we have of the first place we’ve met. Instead of remembering us fighting and accidentally pushing Alec down the hill, I want us to remember this day— oh! Aline!”

Aline was choking, her face red as she coughed and gasped for breath. Helen scrambled to her feet and got behind Aline, hoping to anyone who might be listening that her version of the Heimlich maneuver was correct.

She linked her hands over Aline’s diaphragm and pushed. Helen was sobbing louder than Aline’s choking by the time the ring was dislodged from Aline’s throat. It rolled down the same hill that Alec fell off of but Helen couldn’t care less.

“Babe are you okay?” Helen asked through stifled sobs. Aline weakly put an arm around her shoulder, her face pale and her lips smudged with saliva and cupcake.

“I’m okay.” she replied weakly. “What was that? Did you forget to bake it all the way?”

“No.” Helen wailed. Aline didn’t have the energy to flinch away from her. “It was a ring, I was going to propose and instead I almost killed you.” Helen didn’t hear Aline shout at the admission, her loud sniffles blocking everything but the sounds of her own distress. “I was so nervous— and then the ring— I shouldn’t have put it in the cupcake I’m so sorry I should have known you were too voracious for that, I’m so sorry Aline.”

Aline didn’t know whether to be offended at the jab or to be surprised at the failed proposal.

“Babe,” Aline sighed. “You should have known this place was cursed.” she scolded lightly. Helen wailed louder.

“Okay, okay, it’s okay.” Aline panicked, pulling tissues out from the basket and wiping Helen’s face with it. “We’ll find the ring and you can propose properly okay? You know I’ll always say yes to you baby, so stop crying before we make it official. It’s okay you did so well today please stop crying.”

The sun was setting, and as much as Aline would love to sit and comfort Helen, she knew Helen would cry harder if they didn’t find the ring. Aline sighed and knew a little tough love would be needed for the afternoon.

“Do you want to find the ring or not?” Helen shut up.

——————————————————

“I told you so!” Julian’s roaring laughter echoed throughout the house, the rest of the Blackthorn’s laughter not far behind.

“Shut up,” Helen grumbled from Aline’s warm shoulder. “I wanted to be romantic.”

“And we told you it would fail.” Mark said, “You know Aline’s appetite is too monstrous for such a proposal but you went through with it anyway.” his snickers stopped as soon as Aline glared at him. He was right about her appetite, but that didn’t mean she had to be happy about the teasing.

“Well, what’s important is that it’s all over now and I said yes.” Aline interrupted before any bickering could erupt. She looked at the ring on her hand. Simple, yet elegant. The thought of such a thing destroyed by her stomach acids was painful in more ways than one. Washing off all the saliva and dirt on it was a much preferrable alternative.

“You’ve learned your lesson now, right babe?” Aline asked, but Helen was already fast asleep, her eyes still slightly puffy from all the crying she’d done earlier. Aline smiled and cuddled into Helen more, knowing that today was just the start of an antic-filled life with the woman she loves the most.

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be cute... idk what happened :( anyway!!! thank you for reading! comments and kudos are encouraged and very much appreciated! Also, come find me on tumblr, my writing blog is @sleepie-scribbles and my main is @sleepy-sendhelp <3


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